Oh where oh where did that little ring go?
by Mara93
Summary: Merlin gets the ring.  Merlin loses the ring.  King Arthur is not at all pleased.  Guinevere is suspicious.  Curious?  Keep reading.  Be warned that this story has scenes of nutty bromance, three way rambling friendship, and a touch of A/G awwwwwww


**Oh where oh where did that little ring go?**

Rated **K+**

Written for _**Camelot_love's Drabble Tag**_

Nicely prompted by **Ella_rose88**

Original Prompt_**: Arthur plans to ask Gwen to marry him; however, Merlin somehow loses the ring.**_

Thanks for such a fun prompt to write Ella_rose88!

Special thanks here at FF to those who have responded to my chapter stories and drabbles. Especially, I got three reviews very recently that just made me happy when I was feeling a little down. Thanks!

**Story Warning:** Has a lot of silly bromance, three part friendship and a touch of A/G romance

Read with caution if Camelot nuttiness is not your thing

lol...

**II**

"YOU LOST IT WHERE?"

Merlin frowned at the king, the latter man having received his coronation just months ago. "You don't have to shout so much Arthur. I'm sure the entire kingdom of Camelot heard you."

Arthur smiled smartly before opening his mouth. "_THEY'LL BE HEARING YOU_…" He took out his sword from his side.

"SCREAMING FOR YOUR LIFE!"

Merlin rolled his eyes. _So melodramatic._ After all…

He simply lost the engagement ring…

For Gwen.

_Okay…_

Maybe that was slightly important.

**II**

**Three Hours Earlier**

Paddling the rickety boat with a grumble, Merlin pulled up to the little island of flowers. _Geesh_…the things he was made to do and he was the most powerful sorcerer in the land, _well so far anyway_. The most powerful to stay _alive_. All the bad ones kind of just came and gone…poof. _Bye bye_. But he lasted. Because he was Merlin. Merlin Emrys Reginald (_don't ask about that one, long painful story_) Lightning Man (_kid gave him that one_) Wizard of the Ages…_Merlin_.

And here he was stuck with the menial task of finding some bright purple flowers because the ones in the town already had been touched by _so_ many…hands. _Oh boo hoo._ Sometimes being the manservant, as you also were the great sorcerer, was just so demeaning and annoying.

_Grumble grumble grumble._

Couldn't do it himself? _Oh no! He was King Arthur!_ King Arthur can't row a boat over to a little island to get flowers for the woman he loves. _Oh no of course not!_ Send out the sorcerer instead who has superior magical powers and yet he's made to gather flowers. _Pitiful._

Bemoaning it all the way, his sometimes _blah blah blah_ existence, Merlin picked what looked like the best flowers and climbed back into the tiny little boat. Paddling it over to the side, he continued to rant about his poorly position, as it happened in the meanwhile.

He dropped something of just...

A bit of significance out of his pocket.

_It in fact happened to be what his next mind rant was about._

Also, too, the king had sent him three towns away to pick it up, the very special ring he had picked out just for her because it was crafted by a jeweler who was known to bring floral accents to their work. Gwen loved flowers. Hence the flowers here and…the flowers on the ring.

Grabbing for the side to dock the boat, that was when Merlin accidentally…

Knocked the precious custom made floral accented, designed-just-for-the-new queen…

Ring…

right

_plop_

drop…

Down…

Down…

Into the depths of…

The very murky and often times muddy…

Lake.

_"Oooooohhhh no!"_

Merlin let out with dread.

The same one that he dropped that sword into and never saw again.

_Hmmmm_…should be coming up time soon for it to be used, right?

_Anyway!_

Maybe he could find it with magic, but what if that led to a whole other mess of problems? Not that this wasn't problem enough. The king would have his head…

On a plate.

Served with…

_ANYWAY._

Merlin tried a few times of golden eyes and lyrical chants.

With no success.

He could conjure up a whole new ring, but the king was a stickler for details and would notice any bit of change since Merlin really hadn't paid attention much attention to the thing other than picking it up and carousing out of there.

_Hmmm_…Guess there was only one solution.

Oh the things he did for his…_DESTINY_.

Rolling his pant legs up as much he could, Merlin tipped his body over the side of the boat and started sloshing around in the water for the tiny little…

Irritating

Troublesome

_Causing him such misery…_

Ring.

**Three Hours Later**

"WHAT are you doing?"

_Oh oh._

Glancing up from his search, Merlin tried to slap on his face the most innocent look of…

_Uh…_

Happiness?

"Sire! I got the flowers!" He waved them with pretend glee.

_Stall, Merlin!_

Wearing his most decorated tunic with golden accents to go with his black pants, the crown of his coronation upon his head, and a deep red Pendragon cloak around his shoulders, Arthur smiled.

_He got the flowers. Very good._

He'd planned this night for weeks now.

First he'd walk over to her humble cottage. From there they'd ride on horseback to this beautiful spot high beyond the castle that they had started going to when they began their relationship in secret. There he had everything set up, _or well_, Merlin had set it up.

He _better_ have set it up.

Uh…wait a minute. _Ah…yes…the flowers!_

Arthur carefully, so as to stay perfectly clean for his lady, made his way down to the bank where his odd servant was still waddling along in the water.

_What_ was wrong with him?

Oh well.

He took the flowers handed to him with satisfaction. "Ah, yes, these will do just fine. And the ring?"

Merlin frowned.

Arthur frowned. _There better not be a problem._ Of course with Merlin, magical sorcerer of the land or not, nine times out of ten…

_There was._

"Where _is_ it Merlin? _Don't_ tell me you didn't get it."

Merlin grinned. He had a good answer for _that_ one at least. "Oh yeah…"

Suddenly he was distracted by something in the water. _Was that a fish that had in its mouth…_

_Nah_…couldn't be.

_"MERLIN."_ Arthur brought in sharply.

Merlin turned his attention back to his pr-_king_. Still took some getting used to sometimes after the former king's illness led to his _prat of a friend_ taking over. "Uh…yeah of course I got it."

Arthur smiled with satisfaction, bringing his hand out with expectation. "Then…"

_"Andlostit."_

Merlin mumbled in one jumble of words.

"What was that?" Arthur asked with eyebrows raised. His servant and his muttering!

Merlin swallowed hard. Better get the golden eyes ready. This could be…

_BAD_.

"I _uh_…sort of…_uh_…lost it."

Arthur's look was dark, his blue eyes heavily scrutinizing. "You _what_?"

Merlin nodded his head up and down ridiculously fast. "Uh-huh. I just kind of you know…dropped it. Lost it in…

_Long stalling pause_.

"The lake."

Merlin gestured to all around them with a weak smile, pulling back at the dark blue robe he sometimes wore now as…not servant…but _mega sorcerer_.

Okay…another _kid_ term. Really he was a hero that so many revered because of his awesome amazing ability to make fire-

"YOU BLOODY LOST IT WHERE?"

_Geesh_…he didn't have to _yell_ like that. Especially when he was going through his sorcery catalogue of major achievements!

**And that kind of brings us back to where this all started.**

Arthur now had taken out his sword and was shining it in his servant's pale face. "HOW COULD YOU LOSE THE RING IN THE LAKE?"

Merlin's eyes flashed gold in warning. _Hah hah hah!_ Evil sorcerer cackle. _Take…that!_

Arthur railed back with a snarl. "Oh don't start that _golden eye_ thing with me _MERLIN_. I'll stab you with this sword…don't doubt it."

"And I'll turn you into a _TOAD_…don't doubt that."

Arthur raised his hands with exasperation, putting the sword away. One time the _idiot_ had accidentally turned him into a slimy worm. No need to go through that painful memory again. That really _awful…gross_ memory. Guinevere had told him that if he even tried to crawl up and kiss her she would fling him out the window.

_AAAAAHHHHH...squashed worm. Bye bye Camelot._ Horrible picture indeed.

"You _better_ find it Merlin."

Arthur moved away from the bank and gestured for his servant to keep looking. Merlin grumbled how kings were just like princes. Couldn't do a single thing for themselves. If they could have…

_None_ of this would have happened.

**Ten minutes Later **

The king is hit with a knock of common sense, _or frantic worry_.

"Oh…enough! Why don't you just use your magic.

"Because it might make the ring even harder to find!"

Rolling up his pants and flinging away his dressed up cloak, Arthur grumbled as he sloshed _his own way_ into the water.

"Yeah, you're right about that. Wouldn't be surprised if you turned the water…PINK."

Merlin grumbled under his breath. Had to bring _that_ up. It wasn't his fault that the spell went a little awry. Like _a few_ of his others.

Ranting still, Arthur waddled around in the mostly shallow edge of the water, shuffling it around as gently he could with his hands to spot any shine of gold.

"You know I don't get it Merlin. You can make storms appear out of nowhere, send a man flying against a tree with your mere hand, and talk to ferocious dragons in a voice that I admit still sends chills down my spine, but _you can't find a RING_?"

Merlin muttered back stubbornly. "Well I don't see _you_ finding it…"

Belatedly adding in, _"Sire."_

Arthur rolled his eyes, continuing the search.

Thinking of it now, Merlin let out. "Oh and uh…Sire…"

"WHAT?"

_Talk about sour moods!_

"Uh…if you just happen to find this golden inscribed, _breathed-on-by-a-dragon…_

_Sword_…

That's yours too."

"Pray tell what else have you lost in this lake, Merlin…

_Y__our brain_?"

"_Not_ nice."

"Shut up and look."

"_You_ shut up and look…

_Sire_."

**And now Two hours after all of that making the grand total a sum of Five hours of search**…

Also making the king very late for

his…

_Date with a certain…_

Lady…

Wet, tired, grumpy, dirty, and

Without any kind of success at all…

The two men: _the grand sorcerer of the land, and the kingdom's prestigious king_

Were _still_ sloshing around in a murky muddy lake for one simple single object.

_The ring_.

Oh if the knights, peasants, dragons, sorceresses, trolls, servants, unicorns, Questing Beasts, bandits, Druids, horses, super size spiders, super size rats…

_Uh…maybe that's taking it a bit far…_

So anyway…

If they _(yep that whole motley bunch)_…

Could see them now!

"How many hours has it been?" The prince asked wearily. He had no idea how late he might be.

Sloshing through another part, Merlin grimaced. "Do I _look_ like I'm carrying an astronomical clock on my back? _How should I know_?"

"Can't you _MAGICALLY_ make one just appear?"

"_Oh!_ Had to throw that one in there, didn't you? Yeah, I'll just make a clock the size of a giant chess piece that stands in the hallway…out of magic. _POOF_."

"Shut up Merlin and keep looking! They're _not_ giant chess pieces. They're works of medieval art."

_Yeah, but they looked like giant chess pieces._

Merlin decided to let it go...and that was when...

"_Uh_…Arthur…"

"What? You found the _dragon_ sword?"

"No…and it's _not_ a dragon sword! It was _breathed on_ by a dragon. But never mind that! I think this fish has the ring."

_That_ got his attention.

Quickly lifting out of the water, Arthur turned.

"Eh?"

"Look." Merlin pointed. _"And don't talk so loud."_ He hissed out in warning. "You'll scare it away."

Arthur followed Merlin's finger, eyes widening..._original golden floral patterns_. "Bloody hell, it _does_ have the ring!"

He pulled out his sword, causing Merlin to cry out with shock.

"You're not going to _kill_ it?"

"What do you expect me to do Merlin, _ASK_ it to give me the ring?"

"But you can't kill it! You're going to dirty up the water." Merlin protested.

Arthur gave him a look of disbelief_. Dirty up the water?_ It was already full of mud, muck and…everything else for that matter.

_Including Guinevere's ring. His…dragon sword and…_

_Hah. Merlin's brain._

_Hah hah hah._

"Maybe _I_ could try to talk to it. Use a spell." Merlin interrupted Arthur's slight erratic musings.

The search was probably driving them both…_batty_.

Arthur smirked before getting fully in his servant's face. "Oh yeah, like the time you conjured one on my horse…and he nearly…

JUMPED OFF A CLIFF!

_Whilst I was on it_."

"Okay, so the spell went a little awry."

"Most do."

"Hey." Merlin countered heatedly. "Don't forget I've drank poison for you, attempted to sacrifice my life for you, created firestorms, thunderstorms, lightning storms, swamp storms…

Arthur rolled his eyes. _Why…oh why?_

"…_flying fruits and vegetable storms, tree branch storms, whatever happens to be in the room storms-_

"OKAY…enough! Now keep an eye on the fish."

"There it is!"

Arthur readied his sword at his servant's direction.

"_Oh no_…to the left!"

_Somewhat wayward direction._

The king shifted his aim.

"Not _that _left…

Oh it's over on the right now."

_Insane ludicrous direction._

Tightening his jaw, the king shifted the opposite way.

"Oh back to the left."

Arthur fought to not fling the sword into the water.

_Which would have been...two lost swords and..._

One lost ring. DING

Lake of the...L-O-S-T

_If he wasn't so adept he would have __stabbed himself__ by now with his servant's __UNHELPFUL__ directions. _

"Merlin."

_"Yes?"_

"SHUT UP."

_"Are you two having fun?"_

Shrilly the voice cut through.

Both men turned at it rapidly to see long trailing curls of hair, a gorgeous gown of burgundy and a displeased scowl on her face.

"Am I interrupting something?" She asked coolly.

"Gwen!"

"Guinevere!"

_Gwen/Guinevere_ frowned more heavily. It had disturbingly been going on for weeks now. Arthur would constantly be going somewhere with his servant or whatnot and he'd be all hush hush about it. It was exasperating…to start actually being jealous of another…

Man.

Well not in that way, but in…the _other_ way.

Arms crossed, she called out to the man who was supposed to have been her date over an hour ago.

"If you didn't want to take me out, you could have just…sent a messenger at least Arthur. Making me wait…that really wasn't…

_Well have your fun_."

She waved them both off.

"_NO_…wait!"

Merlin decided at that moment that if it didn't work, wouldn't matter. Time was expired. Eyes glowing, he whispered a spell.

Arthur waded rapidly through the murky waters still calling out for her to stop.

Merlin grinned. _It worked!_ The spell slowed down the fish. The ring really wasn't _in its mouth_, but stuck on a scale. Time slowed for a couple of seconds, Merlin was able to pry it off before the bewildered fish swished away underneath.

"Arthur!"

The king turned around with an impatient grimace. He needed to get to her.

Merlin covertly waved it...making sure Gwen couldn't see. "_Got it_." He whispered.

Arthur's mouth opened wide. "You did?"

Merlin nodded his head, big grin plastered on his face. "Yep."

Feeling ignored, Gwen turned on her heel.

That was when the king asked of the servant, "So you set up everything, right? You know in _that_ place?"

Plainly, Merlin shook his head. "Eh, no. I've had no time, looking for the ring all these hours."

"What do you mean you _didn't have time?_ I told you to set this up!"

"And maybe if you would set up a few things _OF YOUR OWN_…none of this would have happened!"

"Now you're blaming _me_! I'm not the one who lost a ring in the LAKE. Besides I have a kingdom to rule. What do _you_ do all day?"

Merlin's eyes widened with bewildered anger. _"SERVE YOU! Do this pitiful task for me Merlin…go there on this errand for me Merlin…wash my clothes Merlin…make a dragon magically appear Merlin!"_

"I never asked for a dragon-

"Well you probably _will_ some day."

"Oh stop your moaning. I asked you to get the job done and instead you completely fail-

"_She's leaving_."

"What-

"The woman you wanted to give the ring to in the _firs_t place...

_Is taking off right NOW."_

Arthur swung around to see her _indeed_ departing.

"Guinevere!"

He rushed, not watching that carefully where he was going.

Merlin frowned. _Kings!_

But then…

_Oh oh._

Quickly the servant forgot his anger, expressing anxiety instead.

"Uh, Arthur watch out for that-

**SMACK**

SPLASH

SPLOSH

_(Insert Medieval George of the Jungle style gasp)_

**_Ooooohhhhhh_**

"Branch."

Tripping over the wayward _branch_, the _decorated noble honorable King of Camelot_ had landed very unceremoniously _face down_ into…

The very muddy sloshy murky…

Lake.

It made Gwen stop, her eyes widened.

Merlin thought to himself at least he'd be happy about _one_ thing.

_Oooohhhhh_

On second thought, didn't look good.

Still Merlin grinned as he sloppily placed it back upon the man's head. Underneath was the muddied face and heavily soiled clothes now.

"Saved your crown!" Merlin chimed, trying to avoid the king's _messy_ glare.

Arthur shoved the thing flatter on his head, making a few golden strands of his hair pop up disjointedly.

And gritted out of his teeth,

"_Get AWAY from me MERLIN_."

_"Can't please anyone."_ Merlin muttered.

Arthur hurried.

She was departing again now that she knew he was safe.

"Guinevere…wait!"

She didn't slow, but his pace was fast.

Catching up, Arthur pulled gently at her shoulders.

"Guinevere..."

She turned around to face him, her expression unhappy, but noticing it then, that even with all the muck, he _was_ handsomely dressed.

"I can explain. You see Merlin and I were just…uh…"

"Looking for a fallen heirloom…" Merlin added helpfully from the water's edge.

"Yes…" _Heirloom?_ Arthur frowned with misunderstanding, but kept it up. "A…"

"Don't bother." Guinevere put up her hand, turning then to go.

Arthur looked back to Merlin.

The servant gave a helpless shrug.

Arthur frowned with distaste. He was on his own. Tightly he held at her waist. "Wait…"

"I don't want to hear-

_"I love you."_

Her heart panged. _She loved him too_, but this-

"I wanted to make this night special for you. I wanted…"

Letting out a wearied sigh, the king gave it _all_ up.

And proceeded to…

Merlin's eyes widened.

Wet, weary, and muddy, Arthur slowly dropped to one knee, keeping hold of her hand.

Guinevere stared down. _What was he-_

The king pulled it out.

Taking a quick glance, he signaled meaningfully to his servant. _Time to go._

Merlin just grinned, keeping stock still where he was standing, yet _bouncing back and forth_ with excitement.

The king groaned. _He'd get him later._

Clasping at her precious fingers with his dirtied ones, Arthur whispered upward,

_"Guinevere…you're the only woman I've ever seen…as my wife. My queen. And I give you my word…I will always honor you, respect and…"_

Words of affection were not always the easiest for him, but he awkwardly found them now. This was the moment…only so _different_ than he'd ever imagined.

_"...love you. Guinevere…"_ He squeezed tenderly at her fingers, held it out.

"_Will you…"_

Merlin smiled more. No way would he have missed this.

_Finally!_

They had gone through so much to get here and now…

_"...marry me…will you do me the honor of not only being my wife, but my beautiful queen?"_

Tears traced down her cheeks. She had always wanted this moment. It was different than in any of her dreams, but it was…

_Somehow so right_.

It was the darkest area of the forest, no golden moonlight showing through and yet…

_Oh yet._

"In front of Merlin?" She asked playfully.

Arthur chuckled softly. The day had already been _wild_ enough. "Oh yes…_why not_. In front of Merlin!"

For years they had suffered through forbidden affections. They had tried to temper their bodies. Their lonely hearts.

_And yet now…_

The trees here were actually not even _that_ cascading. The lake was obviously known for its…

Muddiness.

Apparent on Arthur now.

_And yet…_

"Was this how you had it planned?"

He shook his head furiously. "Not in the least!'

She giggled at that, smiling vibrantly _enough_ for the missed light.

Merlin knew he probably should move. But he couldn't budge.

He…

_Simply loved them both._

It was why he stayed servant.

Why no matter what heights he rose to as sorcerer…he would always be _the King's servant_.

And soon _the Queen's_ too.

_"Yes."_ She whispered, tears trailing down her beautiful face.

"Yes?" The king asked with boyish hope.

_"Yes..."_ She replied, touching at his shoulder with the hand he didn't hold.

"_I will be your wife. I will be your queen Arthur Pendragon."_

Letting his head fall back he laughed wildly with joyous abandon.

She watched with amusement and tender emotion.

Arthur thanked _heavenly Camelot_...for finally this moment.

She smiled too with gracious thanks.

The king lifted up off his knee, catching at her tears with his fingertips, feeling his own start to shed. _His wife…finally…_

Guinevere would be his queen. No one could part that. He lifted his arms around her, forgetting for the moment his shabby state. She pushed in against him, _not caring_.

Merlin smiled with a few of his own…_alright_…tears. _"King Arthur and Queen Guinevere Pendragon…has a nice ring to it."_

No _ring pun_ intended.

The king pulled back, delicately held onto her finger.

Guinevere felt her heart swell with excitement as he placed the beautiful…_were those flowers…aw_…perfectly fitted ring around her finger. She lifted it to her eyes…before getting a strange whiff. "Is that _fish_ I smell?"

Arthur tried to shrug nonchalantly. "_Er_…well…"

She put two and two together. "Was…_THAT_…what you were looking in the water for?"

"Yep!" Merlin called out from behind.

Arthur glared.

Guinevere laughed. "Oh my goodness!" Then she clasped at her newly engaged _love's_ cheeks.

"I'm dirty and wet- He warned.

She smiled up into his sky blue eyes tenderly. "If you're going to be my husband that should not matter. Besides, I've been around dirt and washed enough launderings to not fear it."

He smiled back. _How he loved this woman._

Seeing it clearly now, she smiled with tender amusement and fixed the misplaced crown on his head, before running her fingers softly through his golden strands to properly smooth them out. Then done with that, she fingered away the bits of mud from his face before intimately pressing her lips against his.

He closed his eyes and fell into it, kissing her back ravenously.

Both of them forgetting…

_"So see? All's well that ends well, right Sire…and er...soon to be Queen Guinevere?"_

They parted. He was _still_ there?

"Awwww…" Merlin grinned at their affections and came in. _"Group hug."_

Arthur responded quickly. "No."

Guinevere rolled her eyes. _Forever boys._

"No?" Merlin asked, seeing Arthur doing that thing where he lifted up his hands and _uh_…kept the distance. Merlin awkwardly followed suit with _just_ an inch of rebuttal.

"But-

"No."

"Oh."

"Yes."

_"Oh."_

Guinevere smiled affectionately at her friend, moving in to kiss him on the cheek. "Thank you Merlin."

Arthur frowned at that. "Eh…"

She took satisfaction that he seemed a bit jealous. Now he knew _sort of_ how she had felt.

Merlin smiled gleefully at the king. The king smiled too before his expression flattened…_with meaning_. "Goodnight Merlin."

Guinevere shook her head at the silliness.

Merlin shrugged. "Good night."

He bowed low with meaning. _"Sire…my Lady."_

Guinevere blushed. It was a term she wasn't totally familiar with. Seemed that would have to be amended.

Arthur grumbled as the servant practically skipped away. "Er…_MY_ lady." He started to kiss her, but then…

_Something nagged at him._

"What is it?" Guinevere frowned.

The king put up his finger, asking her to give him a moment.

"Merlin."

The _servant/sorcerer_, clasping at his robe and already reentering the forest, turned around at the king's voice.  
"Yes?"

"You're a good servant Merlin."

Merlin shrugged with thanks.

Arthur smiled.

The sorcerer smiled too.

_"And a good friend."_

Merlin's eyes widened as did Guinevere's. Maybe a few times in jest, but not so much...

The king's expression was sober enough though, _beyond the kindly smile_.

He meant the words fully.

Walking back to them, Merlin lifted his hands. Arthur's look was curious, but not preventive.

"_Congratulations_…" The sorcerer offered, placing his palms on each shoulder. And then the embrace just _found itself_. The three held onto each for one long moment before the king cleared his throat.

This time Merlin obeyed the hint fully. Moments like this he would never forget though…

_Or ones like the king going PLOP into the water_.

Pulling at his sometimes cumbersome robe that Arthur teased him about mercilessly _made him look like a lanky giant elf_,

Merlin ambled away to the forest.

Arthur sought out his _soon-to-be-queen's_ lips, feeling their passionate return.

Around her finger, the circle of gold glowed through the darkness, the floral pattern weaved into bright design.

_The circle of gold._

The ring.

That had been bought.

Lost.

And found.

Fishy smell and all.

_Ah_ the stories _Uncle Merlin_ would tell…

To

_Their once and future children._

**II**

**Wow**, you read it **_all_**? Sign up to boost my self esteem by leaving a comment.

Hah...thanks for reading. But really...comments are _very very very_ appreciated. _Said the redundant fic writer._

I'll be back soon with my third drabble and then...future chapters to my in progress fics a bit later. Thanks for the support.

Astronomical clock line: Doing research for my story **_Lovely Surprise Me _**I learned that the first clocks were huge…therefore making sense Merlin's remark about carrying it on his back. And as for comparing it to the 'giant chess pieces' the very first time I watched Merlin I nearly fell apart with laughter at those huge chess like looking pieces in the hallways. Maybe that's what they're supposed to look like…maybe not. But that's what they look like to me…kind of silly. So had to drop a line about it here. Since this is a crackier type fic.


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